It’s where you spend a significant amount of time while at home, a place to recharge your energy and prepare for another day of challenges. Bedrooms are supposed to provide you with a comforting vibe. Therefore it is essential to have a well decorated bedroom for your comfort and healthy sleeping.

Living rooms are where family members ideally gather at the end of the day, recollecting memories and sharing them or watching favorite TV shows together. Therefore the ambiance of a well-planned living room interior designs should help alleviate stress and provide positive energy in a relaxing atmosphere.

Here are some of our handpicked layouts that may fit your idea of a living room.

The new terminal of the Puerto Princesa International Airport has commenced its operations on May 4, after the inauguration of the P4.5 billion facility took place a day earlier.

According to a statement by the Department of Transportation, the new terminal has a total floor area of 13,000 square meters and has a seating capacity of 1,500 and parking spaces for up to 200 cars.

The airport’s 2,600-meter runway, according to the Department, can accommodate bigger aircraft such as Airbus A330, which can accommodate 400 passengers. The new terminal also has six parking bays. Twenty flights operate in the airport daily.

To accommodate an increasing number of tourists visiting Davao City, Azalea Hotels and Residences, a premium hotel and accommodation establishment, has unveiled plans to expand its operations in the city.

Another branch of the hotel group in Davao City is in the pipeline, Adrian Ramirez, Azalea Group marketing communications manager said in a recent interview during the AirAsia-Philippines familiarity tour in Caticlan-Boracay.

“We are looking at realizing the plan in two to three years’ time,” he said, adding that the plan is still being finalized.

Azalea Hotels and Residences is also set to rise in the cities of Cebu and Angeles City.

The Davao expansion plan is within the hotel group’s vision of offering the same comfort and convenience across key destinations in the Philippines. Azalea Hotels pioneered the largest all-suite hotel in Baguio City and earned the reputation as the first 4-star quality serviced apartment hotel in Boracay.

In a recent report, the Davao City Tourism Operations Office noted an increase of 13.13% in tourist arrivals in March this year. DCTOO head Generous Tecson said this increase can be attributed to the awareness about the city especially with the arrival of foreign business delegates during the months leading to the Araw ng Dabaw.

With the main objective of cutting down travel time from Cavite to Metro Manila, construction of the 11.7-kilometer Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite extension is set to start in June.

Once the P65 billion project is completed in four years, officials say travel time for hundreds of thousands of commuters will be significantly cut.

“The Cavite Extension will serve an additional 300,000 commuters and will significantly reduce travel time from Bacoor, Cavite to Manila from about two hours to about 40 minutes,” said Light Rail Manila Corporation president and chief executive officer Rogelio Singson at the project’s groundbreaking ceremony.

The extension, which is expected to increase the entire LRT-1 passenger load up to 800,000 daily, will have eight new stations connecting with Baclaran station, the final stop of the existing LRT line.

Of P65 billion total budget, Light Rail Manila Corporation will spend P35 billion while the Philippine government will shoulder the rest, a significant portion of which includes the delivery of 120 new train cars from Japanese manufacturers on a project that is supported by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade said in his remarks that the project was long overdue, having first been approved in 2011 by the National Economic Development Authority. LRMC, a consortium of Ayala Corporation, Metro Pacific Light Rail Corporation, and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings, originally planned the construction to start in 2015 but right-of-way issues have held up project plans.

Making up for lost time, Tugade proposed construction to be round the clock, to speed up the project without compromising quality.

In what is dubbed a ‘golden age in Philippine infrastructure’, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration wants to get the country’s roads, bridges, airports and other big ticket projects done within his term — a shot in the arm for Philippine infrastructure that has been left behind by its regional peers.

Using the newly launched website www.build.gov.ph, a transparency tool that people can access to check the status of these mega-projects, the public will be made aware of how the economic blueprint through the ambitious 64 BUILD! projects translate into realization.

Here are 15 of those projects that can jump-start the Philippines into a world-class economy:1. BGC to Ortigas Road Link Project

Sta. Monica-Lawton Bridge involves the construction of a 4-lane bridge across Pasig River and a 4-lane viaduct structure traversing Lawton Avenue onwards the entrance of Bonifacio Global City and the ramp before Kalayaan Avenue in the City of Makati. The total length of the projects is 961.427 m.

2. UP-Miriam-Ateneo Viaduct

The UP-Miriam-Ateneo viaduct aims to reduce the travel time at Katipunan and CP Garcia.

3. Iloilo-Guimaras-Negros-Cebu Link Bridge

When completed, you can find it easier to travel to Iloilo, Guimaras, Negros and Cebu via a bus or car.

4. Davao City Bypass Construction Project

Travel to Digos, Davao del Sur through Panabo, Davao del Norte will only be only 45 minutes instead of the usual 2 hours.

5. NLEX-SLEX Connector Road

The project involves the construction and operation and maintenance of a 8 km. 4-lane elevated expressway over the Philippine National Railway right of way. It starts from C3 Road in Caloocan through Manila crossing Espana towards PUP, Sta. Mesa connecting Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 (MMSS3). Once completed, the NLEX-SLEX Connector road is expected to decongest traffic in Metro Manila by providing an alternative to C-5 Road, EDSA, and other major thoroughfares, and cut the travel time between NLEX and SLEX to 15-20 minutes which today takes more than an hour.

6. Manila-Clark Railway

Guaranteed ONE HOUR from Metro Manila to Clark International Airport7. Metro Manila Bus rapid Train system

The Metro Manila Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) – Line 1 Project spans 12.3 kilometers from Quezon Memorial Circle (QMC) to Manila City Hall via Elliptical Road, Quezon Avenue, and Espana Boulevard. It is expected to serve 291,500 passengers daily in its first year of operations.

The EDSA BRT Line 2 is a proposal to establish and implement a 48.6-kilometer high-quality bus-based mass transportation system and a corresponding pedestrian and bicycle greenway network. The system consists of four corridors; namely, a main corridor along EDSA, and spur corridors along Ayala Ave. to World Trade Center, Ortigas to Bonifacio Global City, and NAIA terminals.

8. Mindanao Railway

A 105 kilometer segment of the larger 830 kilometer Mindanao Railway network. The Mindanao Railway will connect major cities, seaports, economic zones, allowing for faster transportation of passengers and freight. The Tagum-Davao-Digos segment alone is expected to serve over 100,000 passengers daily in its opening year.

With a proposed capacity of 8 million passengers, the new terminal is expected to decongest Manila-based terminals and encourage Filipinos to use the airport as a viable alternative to the NAIA.

12. Clark Green City

Envisioned to be the country’s first smart, disaster-resilient and green metropolis, the Clark Green City is a 9,450-hectare master planned property within the Clark Special Economic Zone. At full development, Clark Green City will have some 1.12 million residents, 800,000 workers and contribute a gross output of approximately P1.57 trillion per year to the national economy.

13. BGC to NAIA Bus Rapid Transit System

One can arrive at the NAIA airport within 15 minutes from Fort Bonifacio. No traffic and no delay.

14. Subic Clark Cargo Railway Project

A connection from the Subic port and the Clark airport to reduce the number of cargo and delivery trucks traversing Metro Manila, and in effect, reducing cost of goods.

15. Mega Manila Subway Phase 1 from Quezon city to Taguig

A 25-kilometer underground mass transportation system connecting major business districts and government centers. It is expected to serve around 370,000 passengers per day in its opening year alone. The feasibility study is being conducted with the help of a grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Filipinos are known for its closely-knit family ties. It is not uncommon for children to live with their parents long after they finish college or even when they get married and have kids. As parents go past their retirement age, children and other members of extended family stay with them especially if they have health issues that require assistance on a regular basis.

But if you are generally on good physical health, and prefer to live independently with your spouse, would you rather rent your home or own it as you live your retirement years?

For many Filipinos, money is an obvious factor on deciding whether to own or rent house. While you’re no longer earning from salary, retirement fund and monthly pensions are now at your own disposal. An important consideration is the expected deterioration of your health and possible rising cost of medication, so saving up remains a pressing consideration. But since financing is just a factor to consider before making a decision, here are a few questions that put things in better perspective and help arrive in a more calculated decision.

Do you have heirs to leave inheritance to?
Having children or other heirs is likely going to prompt you to lean towards buying and own the house so you can leave them this piece of property. Owning a house is a source of pride and symbol of stability among Filipino families. Leaving them your home helps assure your heirs they don’t have to worry about acquiring the house and spend money instead on other expenses.

Does the house possess more equity later?
Not all homes are valued equal, one may have more potential to raise its market value in the future than the other. If you are particular about this, you may wish to consider your community’s development. Is it currently barren or within the vicinity of farmlands that can be converted to residential blocks, or a future site for a shopping mall, school or market? Home equity is the market value of your property minus the loan value you paid to acquire it. If you are particular about this, do a simple research on what the area might look like in the future. Otherwise if your home is located close to the riverbank and often flooded during rainy season, the situation could go worse based on climate change trends. Your house might lose its equity and lower its market value in the future.

Do you like your neighborhood?
One of the main reasons besides cost of living in a neighborhood is how it impacts your quality of life. Is it secure, close to your relatives and accessible to market or church? Or is it within the defined quake fault line, close to polluting factories and accident prone area? Such factors influence how you’ll decide to stay or to go in the future. Owning a house in a stable neighborhood can be a good idea as you can convert rooms vacated by children who have moved out into rental property for students or young family. On the other hand, renting a house gives you flexibility to move elsewhere such as close to medical facilities or your children and grand children without long term commitment to a house.

Do you wish to relax more?
Renting the house might give you moment to relax and take it easy as landlords often take care of fixing things within the property. As you age, you’d better off exercise a hands-off approach on doing extra work and focus on doing what you like to do: taking a leisure walk, reading books, cooking your favorite dish or playing with your grandchildren.

However, if you own the house, you have a free-hand on what you’d like to do. You can modify the closet and dispose unwanted furniture so you’ll have more spacious breathing space. A landlord may not agree on addition of hand rails or ramp so you can easily move around in a wheelchair or replace slippery floor tiles to minimize accidents at home.

Summary
Retirement age is a major phase in a person’s life where he or she deserves to reap the fruits of hard work for many years. Deciding on owning or renting a house may have been decided long time ago but as a new chapter in life unfolds, those decisions may require a review. You can assess your own situation depending on your financial power, surrounding family members and health condition. But such decisions can also be influenced by advise from other professionals such as your insurance agent, tax adviser or real estate broker who will give sound advise on which option is better based on your lifestyle preference.

Buying a home during your retirement age is almost always in cash terms as lending institutions count the number of years of payment to borrower’s age upon loan maturity or time you fully paid your loan and claim full ownership of the house. An applicant should not be more than 65 years old by the time the loan matures, so unless you choose a short loan term, you need to consider your home buying options early.

Even as the Philippines marches on towards development, many Filipinos remain poor. In 2016, a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations revealed that 10.5 million Filipinos identify themselves as poor.

With general lack of livelihood opportunities, inflation, high unemployment and underemployment rate and low wages for those who find work, a persistent problem among low-income families is lack of housing options.

So it is not unusual to find families living in makeshift shanties built with whatever material is available on hand. Though this illustrates the typical resourcefulness Filipinos are characterized for, building houses on government or private lands gets them in trouble sooner or later, while earning the formal term “informal settlers” or the derogatory “squatters”.

As a means to mitigate the problem of squatting in many urban communities, President Ferdinand Marcos in 1975 signed the Presidential Decree No. 772, otherwise known as Penalizing Squatting and Other Similar Acts. Under the Decree, people found to be occupying or possessing the property of a legitimate owner against the latter’s will were either imprisoned or fined depending on degree of violation.

However, PD 772 was eventually repealed by Republic Act 8368, also known as Anti-Squatting Law Repeal Act of 1997. R.A. 8368 not only ordered that informal settlers cannot be imprisoned, but also dismissed pending cases based on P.D. 772. The Act may have become sympathetic to poor families but many informal settlers have abused this provision, making it harder for rightful property owners to assert their ownership. The proper handling of such situation has been an issue among squatters, landowners, and law enforcers for a long time since both parties involved have rights that should be respected.

“With abusive squatters taking advantage of a tedious and expensive court action, it is sometimes better for property owners to take advantage of the principle of self-defense for new or ongoing intrusions,” according to Philippine Association of Real Estate Boards National Chairman Atty. Rey Cartojano.

According to Cartojano, the principle of self-defense takes place when a property owner uses reasonable force to physically resist intruder, or forcibly evicts them using reasonable amount of effort. However, he warns that this principle “must be used with calculation and much restraint with the advisable participation of barangay officials and police officers.”

Another option for property owners, who don’t want to invoke their right of self-defense which can easily turn violent, is to seek help from the barangay for amicable settlement or hire a lawyer to settle the conflict.

“The legal remedy for property owners for squatters and informal settlers are detailed under Republic Act No. 7279, otherwise known as the Urban and Development Housing Act,” Atty Cartojano said. He suggested the following steps for a property owner involved in a situation with an informal settler squatting his property.

Establish the identify of involved informal settlers. Notify and seek help from barangay officials who are expected to mediate and initiate contact with the other party.

Document instances of intrusion incidents in writing or video. Report incident to a police station that has jurisdiction over the property and record a police blotter relating to the incident.

Seek the help of the barangay to arrange a possible settlement if a peaceful negotiation does not produce good progress.

If barangay intervention proves to be unsuccessful, the property owner must then hire a lawyer who will handle the matter of evicting the squatters. The lawyer will be handling tasks such as serving the demand letters and filing the necessary court cases.

How long does the process take?

Once the designated lawyer issues demand for the informal settler to vacate the property the clock starts ticking in the legal remedy to settle the issue of occupying property against the owner’s will. Once the informal settler does not heed the demand, the case will have to be filed in court. Cartojano explained that depending on the caseload of the court, skills of the handling lawyers and the disposing ability of the handling judge, the entire process may take years to be completed.

The Philippines is known to be part of the earthquake belt, as part of the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’ which spreads across the northwestern tip of North America towards the western Pacific Ocean.

But what’s not known is the occurence of earthquakes and the magnitude of their strength. That is why Japan, one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, but also part of that region where earthquakes are a frequent occurence, devised plans to make building structures withstand this force of nature, such as inclusion of seismic isolation and vibration control features.

In the Philippines, where technology is catching up, and plenty of buildings are both fire- and quake-hazard, the danger of eathquake does not only result in toppled buildings, but also fires, gas leaks and other forms of destruction. To prevent or minimize damage at homes during an event of an earthquake, here are things to check out:

1. Check electrical connections: Consult with an expert electrician to check electrical wirings, exposed connections and other potential source of fires triggered by an earthquake.

2. Check gas supply: cooking stoves powered by LPG as well as building gas supply lines should be checked appropriately to ensure prevention or mitigate damage caused by gas leaks once earthquakes occur.

3. Tighten security to stabilize electrical appliances and furniture: In an event of earthquake, home appliances such as refrigerator and cabinets might vibrate and topple down. To prevent this, provide enough security by tightening its grip or bolt them to the floor or wall.

4. Check automatic shut-off valves of utility lines. Check with your gas supplier if there is a shut-off valve installed to automatically disable gas supply once strong vibration is detected.